''Political Affairs Magazine'' was a monthly Marxist publication, originally published in print and later online only. It aimed to provide an analysis of events from a working class point of view. The magazine was a publication of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

and was founded in 1944 upon the closure of its predecessor, '' The Communist'', which was founded in 1927. Well-known editors of ''Political Affairs Magazine'' included V. J. Jerome,

Gus Hall Gus Hall (born Arvo Kustaa Halberg; October 8, 1910 – October 13, 2000) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a perennial candidate for president of the United States. He was the Communist Party nominee in th ...

, Hyman Lumer, Herbert Aptheker,

Gerald Horne Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iris ...

, and Joe Sims. Other editors included

Max Weiss Miksa (Max) Weisz (21 July 1857 – 14 March 1927) was an Austrian chess player born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Weiss was born in Sereď. Moving to Vienna, he studied mathematics and physics at the university, and later taught those subjects. We ...

. In 2016, the magazine stopped publishing articles and merged with '' People's World''.

History

At its founding, ''Political Affairs'' was the theoretical organ of the

Communist Party, USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, generally publishing articles intended almost exclusively for members of the Communist Party. In the late 1990s, that role changed. ''Political Affairs'' shed its role as an internal organ of the Communist Party and adopted a broader stance. It provides Marxist perspectives on many contemporary issues and engages in theoretical discussions relevant to Marxists and the labor movement. In addition to articles devoted to national and international politics, the magazine offers poetry, book reviews, occasional reviews of music and film, interviews, and occasional short stories. The publication can be traced back to ''The Masses'', the famous

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

paper of the 1910s. After being suppressed by the government, the paper continued as ''The Liberator''. Independently of this, the

Friends of Soviet Russia The Friends of Soviet Russia (FSR) was formally established in the United States on August 9, 1921 as an offshoot of the American Labor Alliance for Trade Relations with Soviet Russia (ALA). It was launched as a "mass organization" dedicated to r ...

had established another monthly, ''Soviet Russia'', in 1919. In 1924 the title was changed to ''Soviet Russia Pictorial''. Finally,

William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to 1957. He was previ ...

had begun ''Labor Herald'' as the official publication of his

Trade Union Educational League The Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) was established by William Z. Foster in 1920 (through 1928) as a means of uniting radicals within various trade unions for a common plan of action. The group was subsidized by the Communist Internationa ...

in March 1922. When the Workers Party of America had finally been consolidated as the unified above-ground Communist Party in the United States, it was determined that the party should have a theoretical monthly as well as a daily, in line with Lenin's guideline in '' What Is To Be Done?'' The above three publications were combined into ''Workers Monthly'', which debuted in November 1924. It changed its name to ''The Communist'' in 1927 and to ''Political Affairs'' in 1944.

References

External links

Official websiteArchive''Political Affairs'' archive
at the Internet Archive
Archive of ''Workers Monthly'' from November 1924 - February 1927
* ttps://www.marxists.org/history/erol/1946-1956/ Marxists Internet Archive: Political Affairs articles of 1945 after Browderism {{Authority control Communist periodicals published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Communist Party USA publications Magazines established in 1944 Marxist magazines Online magazines with defunct print editions Magazines disestablished in 2016